It took 10 long days for the Congress to finalise the Keralam Chief Minister. The party still could not go with its own choice. Instead, it was forced to go with the choice that was thrust on it mainly by its major coalition partner, the Indian Union Muslim League. VD Satheesan was not the Congress choice. He was not even the choice of the majority of the Congress MLAs, who had favoured KC Venugopal.
There was a difference of opinion between Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also on the issue. While Rahul favoured Venugopal, Priyanka favoured Satheesan.
Priyanka is now an MP from the Muslim-dominated Wayanad parliamentary constituency in Keralam. There are about 48 per cent Muslim voters in the Wayanad parliamentary constituency. Earlier, the constituency was represented by Rahul. He had won from here in 2019 and 2024. This time he resigned from Wayanad and retained the family bastion of Raebareli in UP. He was replaced by Priyanka in the by-election.
Interestingly, Satheesan, despite being a six-time MLA, has no administrative experience. When he will be assuming the charge of Keralam Chief Minister, it will be for the first time that he will be holding any administrative position. He has never been a minister, although the Congress was in power twice earlier when he was an MLA. Nor has he served as the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Keralam assembly.
The Congress, as usual, had not projected any chief ministerial face for the Keralam assembly elections. KC Venugopal, the powerful AICC general secretary, was the frontrunner for the power he wields in the party. He is the closest of all to Rahul Gandhi. He also had a major say in ticket distribution.
Ramesh Chennithala was another strong contender for the chief ministerial post. He is the senior most in the party among the three.
The UDF won 102 seats in a house of 140 members this time. The Congress, on its own, won 63, while the IUML won 22. Another major coalition partner in the UDF is the Kerala Congress, which won 7 seats.
On May 5, the Keralam Congress Legislative Party met in Thiruvananthapuram and passed a one-line resolution authorising party president Mallikarjun Kharge to name the CLP leader. As is the standard procedure, the party high command through its observers met with the MLA, MPs and senior leaders, including former PCC presidents. Majority of the party MLAs, about 43 of the 63 favoured Venugopal to be the chief minister.
Also read: Congress names V D Satheesan as next CM of Keralam
However, the IUML, with its 22 members, remained firm and steadfast in its support for Satheesan. Satheesan is known for his “typical secular credentials”, where he remains strongly opposed to the majority (Hindu) communalism, but is soft towards the minority (Muslim and Christian) communalism. Keralam is known for stringent communalism of all sorts, whether the majority of the minority. Satheesan is known to have defended the radical Muslim organisation Jamaat-e-Islami, which favours imposing sharia.
No doubt, as compared to Venugopal and Chennithala, Satheesan was seen much more in Kerala. But he coerced the high command to appoint him as the Chief Minister, using his clout in the IUML. The Congress could not afford to antagonise a strong ally with 22 MLAs. Besides, it conveys a message to the community that it respects their mandate.
It reminds of a similar situation in the Congress vis-à-vis Punjab. After the party removed then chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh unceremoniously just a few months before the 2022 assembly elections, it later asked the party MLAs for the choice of his successor. A majority of the MLAs favoured then Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar. The party instead appointed Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit. He was not among the options MLAs had been asked about. Jakhar later, although much late, resigned from the party and joined the BJP. He is currently the Punjab BJP president. The Congress badly lost the elections.
Although there is no such situation in Keralam right now as the elections have just concluded and Satheesan was very much one of the contenders for the chief ministerial job, yet it will be a difficult task for the party to navigate the contradictions. Most of the Congress cabinet colleagues in Satheesan’s ministry may not be his supporters as they may have favoured Venugopal against him.
Given the power and authority Venugopal enjoys at the high command for being the general secretary, organisation, Satheesan’s job may not be very easy. Venugopal wields power across India in different states, Keralam is his home state, which he has lost in the power game. In the long run, Keralam will need a lot more attention from the party high command sans Venugopal. Satheesan’s only hope will be Priyanka, who happens to be the party MP from the state and probably one of the strong reasons for him being the Chief Minister instead of Venugopal.
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